On May 24, 2006, at 5:27 PM, Mike Richter wrote:
>
> A variation on the theme:
>
> You have a recording of a work in the public domain but lack
> information on its origin. You want to use it, but need to
> publicize it in order to find out who has the rights. That might
> mean CD copies sent to the experts in the field, Internet posting
> with requests to audition sent to appropriate groups, or similar
> devices.
>
> As I understand the law (with or without the orphan-works
> legislation), you can't publish even to that limited extent without
> a license; you can't get the license without finding the holder(s)
> of rights; you can't find them without publishing.


However, could you use the Fair Use get-out-of-court-free card and
send around a 20 or 30 second sample of the work? A representative
sample and enough metadata (even if it's made up, e.g. "Appears to be
a recording from the 1940s of an elderly woman snoring through a
harmonica for 4 minutes, 28 seconds") could possibly turn up some
results, and that would seem to be within the boundaries of the law
(including making every effort to find the original author).


----------------
Trey Bunn
Folklife Archivist
Alabama Department of Archives and History
Montgomery, AL